


Mistletoe

by Lady_Sci_Fi



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 06:44:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17218895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Sci_Fi/pseuds/Lady_Sci_Fi
Summary: At the Doctor's first UNIT Christmas party, he discovers a certain tradition.





	Mistletoe

 “Oh… oh no…” Liz abruptly said in the middle of a rather pleasant science-centric conversation with the Doctor at the UNIT Christmas party.

 The Doctor took a sip of his drink as he noticed she was looking up over his head. “What is it? Do I dare look, in case it’s a Nekjit?”

 Liz raised her eyebrows. “A what?”

 “Nasty little thing that likes to crawl along walls and ceilings. They’re good at camouflage, something like a chameleon.”

 Liz laughed. “No, not that. I think it’s worse than that.”

 The Doctor finally turned to see what it was. Hanging down from a decorative wreath was a stemmed plant with green spiky leaves and red berries.

 “Mistletoe,” Liz informed before the Doctor could try to guess.

 “What’s the matter with it? It seems to match the other decorations around here.”

 Liz sighed and nervously said, “Oh, right, you wouldn’t know. I suppose we’ve been standing under it too long to hope anyone hasn’t seen us.”

 “What happens if people see us standing under mistletoe?” the Doctor asked, now very curious.

 “It’s an expectation, a sort of tradition around this time of year.” Then she muttered, “Wouldn’t surprise me if Captain Yates hung it, thinking he’s sly and clever.”

 The Timelord raised his brow. “What’s the tradition? It’s got you nervous, hasn’t it?”

 Liz cleared her throat. “You could say that, yes...” She looked to the side of the Doctor’s face. “But, I suppose I could oblige the tradition?”

 “You still haven’t told me what it is, my dear.”

 “Well… it’s silly, and I have no idea why it’s a tradition, but if two people stand under mistletoe, they’re… they’re supposed to kiss.”

 “Oh… I see.” The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck.

 “Doesn’t really mean anything, if you don’t want it to,” Liz added hastily. “Just a silly thing.”

 “So… which of us-“ The Doctor stopped talking as Liz went up on her tiptoes and grabbed his forearm to steady herself.

 Liz had been aiming for the side of the man’s mouth, but the Doctor turned his head to her at the last second, and it ended up a full kiss on the lips. She withdrew a second later, a sheepish little smile on her face. “I didn’t mean to-“ Over the music, they heard a few nearby people teasingly whistled at them.

 “No, no, it’s alright.” The Doctor gently took her wrist. “Interesting little tradition. Now I’m curious to the origins and symbolisms of it.”

 Liz shrugged, and gave a awkward wave as she backed away and left him to mingle with other people, away from the hanging mistletoe.

 The Doctor spotted Yates, who raised his glass and winked at him. The Timelord shook his head in amusement and also left the spot to mingle.

 The Doctor had forgotten about it after another hour of eating, drinking, and talking. That is, until he was chatting with the Brigadier, and happened to look up over the other man’s head as he stretched his neck. He couldn’t help the sly grin that spread over his features.

 Alistair broke off at the odd and inappropriate expression for the topic, and asked, “What is it?”

 The Doctor gestured with his chin for Alistair to look up as he said, “A cultural tradition.”

 Alistair’s eyes widened when he saw the hanging plant. “Of all the infernal cheek! Doctor, I hope this wasn’t you, or-“

 “Not me, I promise.” Then the Doctor swooped in before Alistair could fully face him and planted a kiss firmly on him, covering half of the other man’s mouth.

 Alistair froze, and the Doctor held the kiss for another couple of seconds, to the sounds of gasps around them, before he pulled away. He only grinned at the other man’s absolutely shocked wide-eyed expression.

 Alistair opened and closed his mouth a few times, before finally whispering, “Don’t tell me you just kissed me in front of everyone.”

 “I was told that was a tradition around this time of year, when two people are under a hanging mistletoe.” The Doctor decided not to implicate Liz in this, in case Alistair did actually get upset. He chuckled, “And I don’t think everyone saw.”

 Alistair’s upper lip twitched. “Be that as it may, Doctor, this is hardly the most… appropriate place to do that.”

 “It’s a Christmas party, what more appropriate place is there?” the Doctor countered. He caught sight of Liz and Benton trying to hide their laughter halfway across the room.

 “Doctor, you-“

 The Doctor decided to press his luck, just for his own fun. “Oh, look, we’re still under it.”

 “What?”

 This time, the Doctor grabbed the Brigadier’s face with both hands and pulled him in for a full kiss. Again, Alistair froze, which let the Doctor keep the contact until he decided to let go, which turned out to be a longer period of time than before. The Timelord could swear he even felt Alistair’s knees buckle just the tiniest bit before he released him.

 Alistair could only stare at the Timelord’s maddening teasing grin for several seconds. Then he said, “When I find out who hung this…” He cleared his throat awkwardly. “I-I should go… somewhere else,” before he went off and left the large ballroom entirely.

 “Oh dear…” the Doctor said to himself. “Hope I didn’t scare him away from the festivities.” Still, he couldn’t help the smile as he went over to get another drink.

 He had just filled a cup with the fruit punch when Yates sidled up next to him and began to refill his own cup. He nudged the Doctor with his shoulder and whispered conspiratorially, “Even if he somehow finds out I hung the mistletoe and puts me on clean-up duty for a week or something-“ he looked up to the Doctor’s face, not at all trying to hide his Cheshire cat grin. “It was completely worth it to see that.”

 “Such a troublemaker, aren’t you?” the Doctor chuckled.

 Yates shrugged. “I suppose that’s one word for it. I prefer ‘playful.’ You’ll keep my part in it secret, will you?”

 The Doctor took a long sip of punch, acting as though he was thinking about it. At the first sign of Yates’ mischievous expression falling, he dropped the pretense. “Don’t worry, Captain, your secret is safe with me. And just between you and me, I found it worth it too, to see him react like that.”

 Alistair did return to the party a little while later, and pointedly stayed away from the Doctor and that spot. The Doctor remarked to himself, “What a charming tradition, and an amusing response from Lethbridge-Stewart.”


End file.
